Milkman's Leap

Finishing the Song of Solomon, we see all of the ideas in the beginning to come around full circle. After Milkman has found his lineage, I expected him to return home and complete his journey. But the realization of Hagar's death really opens his eyes to everything around him.

“He had left her. While he dreamt of flying, Hagar was dying. Sweet’s silvery voice came back to him: “Who’d he leave behind? ‘He left Ryna behind and twenty children. Twenty-one, since he dropped the one he tried to take with him. And Ryna had thrown herself all over the ground, lost her mind, and was still crying in a ditch.”

He sees that he is Solomon, and his absence from Hagar's life caused her grief just like Solomon's wife. He finally begins to take responsibility for his actions and treatment of Hagar. This is so surprising to the readers at this point because all that we have known of Milkman is his utter disregard for anyone besides himself. His realization here is surprising, but develops even more so when he accompanies Pilate to Solomon's Leap.

“They stayed with Omar’s family, and on the second and last evening, Milkman and Pilate walked up the road to the path that led to Solomon’s Leap. It was the higher of two outcroppings of rock. Both flat-headed, both looking over a deep valley. Pilate carried the sack, Milkman a small shovel. It was a long way to the top, but neither stopped for breath.”

 For the first time, we see Milkman really doing something for someone else. I don't think that it is any coincidence that the person he helps is Pilate. Because throughout the story, Pilate is the person he really owes his life to in many ways. She saved his life quite literally when she helped her mother to get pregnant and wouldn't let Macon persuade Ruth into an abortion. In addition to this, Pilate is the woman who welcomes him in when he is young. She gives him the opportunity to escape his home, and family. By coming to her, Pilate gave him the opportunity to practice his flying. So we can see that he is deeply attached and indebted to her, possibly explaining why he went to her first after finding out about Solomon. 

On top of the cliff, a sudden an unanticipated death of Pilate occurs. This moment is so quick, and yet is still very meaningful. Pilate as we have discussed, is so meaningful to Milkman and here he loses her. For him I think her death symbolizes a loss in everything that holds him back from his 'leap'. “No reconciliation took place between Pilate and Macon (although he seemed pleased to know that they were going to bury their father in Virginia), and relations between Ruth and Macon were the same and would always be. Just as the consequences of Milkman’s own stupidity would remain, and regret would always outweigh the things he was proud of having done.” Milkman has already seen that his family will never change, and flight was the only thing he had left.

At this point he yells for Guitar “You want me? Huh? You want my life?” and though the idea of death is typically daunting for most, here we see Milkman almost embracing death and awaiting his flight. And in addition, Guitar's subsequent action on releasing the rifle, seems to symbolize an agreement between the two. The last few lines of the text are open to interpretation: 

“Milkman stopped waving and narrowed his eyes. He could just make out Guitar’s head and shoulders in the dark. “You want my life?” Milkman was not shouting now. “You need it? Here.” Without wiping away the tears, taking a deep breath, or even bending his knees—he leaped. As fleet and bright as a lodestar he wheeled toward Guitar and it did not matter which one of them would give up his ghost in the killing arms of his brother. For now he knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it."

For me, I read these lines as an agreement between the protagonists of the novel. As if Milkman and Guitar are going hand in hand off of Solomon's Leap, and both completing their own destiny. For Guitar it is killing Milkman, and getting away from all of the problems of the world around him. For Milkman, as we have known throughout his life, he must fly. Not only have that, but the recent addition of Solomon’s impact and the loss of Pilate meant that his time to soar has come. Together, we see these two men leap away, prepared to ride the air as far as it will take them.